Character · from book 6
Rosetta Thagra
The Cookbook's ninth-edition author, a Crest, host of the talk show Shadow Boxer, taped in the underwater production trailer, where she hides two messages in plain sight — a yam, and a screen of television shows all set in Miami. A member of the Open Intellect Pacifist Network who vanishes with it after the Homestead box, she reappears in the cockpit of the Homecoming Queen, paranoid, a scrambler at her throat, telling Tipid he paid for neither the ship nor a Celestial box: 'Comrade.'
Race and class, since book 7: Crest · Barn Burner
First appears: Book 6
Series arc
As of book 8. Cookbook bylines from book 3, a colonel in book 7, and in book 8 a hired mercenary with Tipid who ends the book in a Gurkha hat. She invents Denial of Service missiles, hires Team Helix and the ghouls, designs the cactus code that says Li Na is alive, confirms the holding areas, and in the stables where gods cannot hear tells the Scavenger myth: Nekhebit's three children, a son, a daughter and a centipede. She knows Menerva's name and will not say how. On Harry Tisch and the elites: 'That won’t stop until the baskets overflow with their godsdamned heads.'
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fifty thousand former crawlers in a garbage freighter | B6 ch. 73 | open · B8 ch. 27 — Lexis: the ship 'is decked out in enhancement-zone weaponry that actually works now that the AI has escaped containment'; the Network took every major ship in orbit in a day. |
| Porthus's plan: the Apothecary's reason, the Impetus Point, and Menerva | B7 ch. 69 | open · B8 ch. 38 — A Menerva named: a former crawler who built the seventeenth floor and the Pineapple Cabaret with Herot and runs the Backstage Death Maze (ch. 55); book 7 names Porthus's missing crawler Menerva (ch. 69), but this book does not say she is the same woman, and Rosetta knows the name and will not say. |
| Tipid's memory, wiped to a game guide's last day | B7 ch. 82 | open · B8 ch. 8 — Rosetta: 'Tipid doesn’t even remember him', meaning Justice Light; he remembers Herot from his guide days (ch. 39). |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 6
Through book 7
A smack on the forehead and four demands in chat (B7 ch. 11); a whip through a king's neck and his bank emptied (B7 ch. 34, B7 ch. 35); her interlude — Brooks, her mother, the Apothecary, a yacht of children — and the choice to fight anyway (B7 ch. 69); a tortoise on her back up the Nest (B7 ch. 73); ninth edition, alive (B7 ch. 69).
Through book 8
A hired mercenary with Tipid, converted to a mercenary at the start, and in a red gown and a Gurkha hat by the parade (B8 ch. 1, B8 ch. 90). She buys claw caps (B8 ch. 9), invents Denial of Service missiles (B8 ch. 30), hires Team Helix and the ghouls (B8 ch. 26, B8 ch. 34), knows Menerva's name and will not say how (B8 ch. 39), designs the cactus code (B8 ch. 61) and confirms the holding areas (B8 ch. 79). In the stables, where gods cannot hear, she tells the Scavenger myth (B8 ch. 69) and glosses Chachi (B8 ch. 53); on Harry Tisch and the elites: 'That won’t stop until the baskets overflow with their godsdamned heads' (B8 ch. 88).
In the Cookbook
Author of the 9th edition, known from a note at B3 ch. 13. 6 notes in the text so far: B3 ch. 13 · B5 ch. 33 · B6 ch. 12, 13, 31, 61. The register of every edition is on the Cookbook.
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 9/74 | 12–13, 31–32, 37–38, 49, 61, 73 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 57/89 | 11–12, 14–20, 23, 25–26, 28–32, 34–37, 39–43, 46–50, 52, 55–57, 59–60, 62–63, 65–70, 73–75, 77–79, 81–82, 84–86, 88 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 32/99 | 1, 7–9, 24–27, 30, 33–34, 38–39, 53, 55, 61, 67, 69–71, 78–81, 83, 88–91, 95–96, 98 · the book's own page |
By book
Rosetta Thagra in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Rosetta Thagra in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Colonel Rosetta Thag, Crest Barn Burner, level 60, her floral tattoo glowing: she smacks Carl on the forehead as a self-correcting measure, kisses both cheeks, puts an ice-cold hand on the Bedlam Bride and, in chat because they are listening, demands the toraline, Shi Maria's ink, the orc credit chit, the studio and four million gold (ch. 11). Fifty thousand came with her (ch. 11). She rises out of the dirt behind King Rust in a tech cloak and takes his head off with a whip like a champagne cork, presses the head to a datapad for a retina scan, transfers billions through Colloid Bank, and collapses sobbing (ch. 34, ch. 35). Her interlude: a merchant in the mercenary guild on her own crawl; Brooks lassoed through the portal glass by then-Prince Rust; her mother dead to goblins on day one, 'Avenge us'; a documentary called The Other Side of the Glass; Porthus, whom she loves, and the Apothecary, whom she does not trust; the yacht of orc children the Homecoming Queen must shoot down; and the decision to fight anyway, for her friends (ch. 69). Theater Commander of Operation Ruin (ch. 59), she runs up the Nest with a tortoise strapped to her back and a pink Bic razor (ch. 73, ch. 74), tells Fopsy to get fucked (ch. 73), and hands Larracos's defence to Donut (ch. 60). Ninth edition of the Cookbook; took the deal at the start of the eleventh; alive (ch. 69).
Rosetta Thagra in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
A hired mercenary with Tipid, converted to a mercenary at the start, and in a red gown and a Gurkha hat by the parade (ch. 1, ch. 90). She buys claw caps (ch. 9), invents Denial of Service missiles (ch. 30), hires Team Helix and the ghouls (ch. 26, ch. 34), knows Menerva's name and will not say how (ch. 39), designs the cactus code (ch. 61) and confirms the holding areas (ch. 79). In the stables, where gods cannot hear, she tells the Scavenger myth (ch. 69) and glosses Chachi (ch. 53); on Harry Tisch and the elites: 'That won’t stop until the baskets overflow with their godsdamned heads' (ch. 88).